


With Bated Breath

by AngelQueen



Series: With Bated Breath [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Genderbending, Het, Romance, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-04
Updated: 2011-11-04
Packaged: 2017-10-25 17:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/272663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelQueen/pseuds/AngelQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin delays answering Arthur's proposal. The latter worries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Bated Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [kinkme_merlin](http://kinkme_merlin.livejournal.com), the original prompt located [here](http://kinkme-merlin.livejournal.com/28101.html?thread=27219397#t27219397).

The emerald winked at him innocently, surrounded by a series of eight tiny diamonds like droplets of water. Set carefully in the green velvet box, the ring had barely so much as moved from that spot in nearly ten years, when his father had given him the ring at the age of eighteen.

“It was your mother’s,” Uther had explained gruffly, his voice taking on the same hoarse quality that it always did when he spoke of his dead wife. “I gave it to her when she accepted my proposal. She… she would have wanted you to have it.”

Arthur had so few connections to his mother, and the ring, something she had worn on her hand for many years before he was born, had been a treasure. He took it with him when he’d gone to university and had spent more than one late night staring at it, trying to ease the loneliness he’d never allowed himself to feel in the daylight hours.

Now he’d finally gotten the courage to give it to someone, was ready to share his life with someone as his father had shared his life with his mother until she’d died from an aneurysm while giving birth to him, and it was still in the box.

Merlin hadn’t said yes when Arthur had asked her to marry him. She hadn’t said yes, but she hadn’t said no either.

That didn’t stop Arthur from fearing the worst, though.

Their relationship had been so full of ups and downs. They’d been friends during their years together at the University of Ealdor. Arthur had been going through a wild streak at the time, dating various girls left and right, and Merlin wasn’t actually known for her patience for what she called ‘royal prat-ism’, but she’d still stuck to his side. Even when faced with the sweetly lethal venom of Sophia, or the spoiled wretchedness of Vivian, Merlin had stood fast. It had confounded him on more than one occasion, and had asked her why.

She’d merely laughed at him and said, “You’d be lost without me, you silly prat.”

Arthur had scoffed, of course, but in time, he’d come to admit that it was true. Without Merlin, he _was_ lost. It had just taken him quite a while to figure it out, and a little bit longer to work up the nerve to ask her to accompany him out as a date rather than a long-standing friend. Arthur wasn’t someone who lacked confidence (Merlin had called him an arrogant ass more than once over the years), but Merlin was different. Taking their relationship to a different level meant risking the friendship that had taken years to build.

The risk, however, had been worth it. The dating had been casual at first, written off as an excuse to spend more time together, but it hadn’t taken long for it to become more, as though the floodgates had opened. They’d had their problems (leading to more than one ‘break-up’), but inevitably, they always came back together.

Arthur didn’t want to keep following that cycle. He wanted to stay together. As silly and inane as it sounded, he wanted forever. He was the Crown Prince of Albion, the future king, and he wanted Merlin Emrys for his queen.

So he’d dragged her on a special trip to Escetia, gotten down on one knee, held out his mother’s engagement ring, and asked Merlin to marry him. She hadn’t said yes or no, but had asked to think about it.

That had been two weeks ago. Merlin had all but fled the capital the moment they came back from Escetia, returning to Ealdor and the home she’d grown up in with her teacher parents. He’d tried calling her cell more than once, but never received an answer. He’d asked their friends if they’d heard from her, but always received the same answer.

Merlin was incommunicado.

Arthur sighed.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Arthur, stop moping!”

Arthur jerked in surprise, turning in his seat to see Morgana standing at the door, her arms crossed in front of her. His half-sister moved toward him with her customary brisk gait, coming to a halt beside him. “Be patient,” she told him, flopping down into the empty seat next to him. “It’s a lot for Merlin to consider.”

Well, of course it was! Marriage was a big step, for all that they’d been dating for nearly four years, and living together for two. Arthur had thought a lot about it, and in the end had known that Merlin was the only woman for him. Not like his parents’ marriage though, seemingly perfect until the vicious imperfection was shoved in his face.

The truth of his father’s infidelity to his mother had been probably the biggest royal crisis the country had faced since the reign of Arthur’s great-grandfather’s brother, who had lost his reason and had had to be locked away. No one had taken kindly to the fact that his father had been unfaithful to the late queen, and with the Countess of Cornwall and fathering a child with her to boot. The countess was long dead, but the earl hadn’t spoken to the king since the storm had broken.

Arthur had never blamed Morgana for what had come out. They’d virtually grown up together, and he’d loved her, for all that he’d delighted in pulling her hair and shoving her into the mud when they were children. Besides, she’d given as good as she got. No, he’d been furious with his father for betraying his mother, and even now it was still a shadow on their relationship.

Morgana’s relationship with their father was even worse, though. While Gorlois simply hid himself away in Cornwall, devoting himself to his charities and his horses, Morgana was a fixture in the capital. She and Uther had never been easy on each other, but finding out that she was actually his illegitimate child had been akin to taking a knife to the back. The palace, which had always been open to her, was now completely bereft of her presence. Her base was Cornwall House, when she wasn’t visiting Arthur at Alba House.

“It’s been two weeks.” Arthur was _not_ pouting, no matter how badly Morgana rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious. It _is_ a lot to consider. Merlin is as stupidly in love with you as you are with her, but this is a lot more than that.” She reached out and tapped the velvet box with a long, single finger. “You need to understand, Arthur. Merlin wouldn’t just be saying yes to you, but to an entire _nation_. She gets me and Uther as in-laws, which is crazy enough, but she’s also going to get everything that comes with being the wife of the future King of Albion. Bodyguards, paparazzi hounding her day and night, people commenting on and criticizing every move she makes, royal protocol, and everything else. It’s a _lot_ to take in.”

Arthur winced. Morgana had a point, as loathe as he was to admit it. Arthur had grown up with such things, had been prepared for them by his father and the legion of caregivers that had surrounded him. Merlin had been given a rather haphazard education due to being his friend and then girlfriend. To someone who hadn’t grown up with it, it was probably terrifying.

Small wonder she was hiding in Ealdor.

“Yeah, it was.”

Arthur’s heart stopped and he leapt to his feet, whirling to face this new voice. Merlin stood in the doorway, still wearing her dark blue wool coat and red scarf. Her matching knitted cap was in her hands and her hair was mussed, but that wasn’t unusual.

He drank in the sight of her, clutching the velvet box in his hand, and wondering if this might be the last time he’d ever see her.

Morgana seemed to have more confidence than him, because she smirked at them both and said, “I’ll just leave you two alone.” Slipping past Merlin, she was gone as quickly as she’d come.

The silence between them hadn’t been this awkward since he’d found out that Sophia Tiamore had been about to have a tell-all interview about their relationship, which had been _after_ Merlin had warned him about her and Arthur hadn’t believed her. He still didn’t know what Merlin had done to keep Sophia from airing everything to the _Camelot Consumer_.

Her smile was a skittish one as she inched a bit further into the room. “Hi.”

“Hi.” More silence followed these greetings, but Arthur cleared his throat, and then said, “I, uh, you wouldn’t answer your phone.”

Her cheeks flushed pink. “I’ve been driving for the past seven hours, and I needed time to think before that. I wasn’t picking up for anyone.”

He nodded. Arthur really had no idea what else to say, but his mouth didn’t seem inclined to agree. “I -”

“Yes,” Merlin blurt out, cutting him off.

It was a real sign of just how out of sorts he was that he didn’t understand what she meant. “Yes, what?”

Now Merlin lost some of her nervousness, and she rolled her eyes. “Yes,” she repeated, giving him a meaningful look. Her eyes even swept downward toward his hand. “You asked me a question two weeks ago. Yes.”

“Oh,” he said stupidly. Then it sank in and his eyes widened. “ _Oh_!”

Merlin giggled and brushed a stray hair out of her face. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Arthur really had had enough of talking. Striding forward, he walked right into her personal space and pulled her against him, bringing their lips together. She squeaked against him, caught off-guard, but the moment passed and her arms snaked over his shoulders and she returned the kiss happily.

Relief such as he’d never known before swept through him. He had his princess, even if she wasn’t a conventional princess by any standard. She was just what he wanted, though.

When they finally broke for air, Arthur leaned his forehead against hers. “I know it’s a lot to deal with, everything that comes with me,” he said, conveniently leaving out that Morgana had had to spell it out to him just minutes ago. “I promise, though, you won’t have to deal with it by yourself. Leon will help you, and Gwen and Elyan too. I think even Morgana might be persuaded to, since she likes you.”

Merlin smiled. “I hope so, because I’m probably going to be hopeless at a lot of this,” she told him.

Arthur shrugged. “Probably, but I don’t really care. I want you the way you are, Merlin. That’s the person I want to marry, not some perfect little socialite. If I’d wanted one of them -”

“You’d have married Vivian or someone like her,” she finished, a wry look on her face.

He shuddered theatrically, and they both laughed pulling away just a little. Suddenly, Arthur remembered what was still in his hand. Slowly, he opened the box, revealing his mother’s ring. Carefully pulling it out of the box, Arthur took Merlin’s left hand and slid it onto her ring finger. The fit was a bit loose. “I’ll make sure it’s resized to fit,” he promised.

She looked down at it, and then back at him. “It’s lovely,” was all she said before leaning forward to kiss him again.

* * *

  
_By order of His Majesty, King Uther the First, the royal chancellor invites you the wedding of_

 _His Royal Highness, Prince Arthur Pendragon  
and  
Miss Merlin Hunith Emrys,_

 _on the twentieth day of May, two thousand twelve, at 10 a.m., at Camilard Abbey._


End file.
